It’s a fact: many people feel travel insurance is an unnecessary extra fee—and that goes double for medical evacuation insurance. Considering, however, that according to a recent story on ABC News millions of Americans are rushed to the hospital every year, with 400,000 of them transported by emergency helicopter, you really might want to rethink adding some protection onto your travels.

Check out the video if you have a few minutes, and you’ll hear how an emergency medical evacuation can place an immense financial burden on you and your family. With no FAA regulation on medical air evacuation costs, carriers can choose to charge anything they wish. And, should that evacuation include airlift from outside the US, the costs can be astronomical: an American family was recently billed $308,000 (that would be dollars) for an air evacuation from Los Cabos to Sharp Memorial in San Diego.

It’s a sobering figure, and that’s not even counting the added expenses they incurred by being treated outside of their home network, since they’re originally from Seattle, Washington.

There are several myths surrounding medical evacuation insurance and memberships. Let’s bust a few of the top misconceptions:

I can’t afford emergency medical evacuation coverage.

Actually, you can’t affordnotto have it. While it’s true that most travelers think nothing worse than a lost bag might befall them while away from home, emergency medical evacuations do take place (atSkyMedwe perform several services a week, in fact) and being medically repatriated from a foreign country back to the US can cost upwards of $100,000. Last year we helped a very sick gentleman get home from St. Petersburg, Russia to San Francisco, California, which ran around $110,000. And the only thing the member and his family paid for was… the cost of the annual membership.

Protection for short-term trips can run as low as $9 per day. Say you live in Miami, Florida, and want to spend a long weekend with your kids hiking in the Catskills, for example. A relatively short flight, a nice drive and you’re in paradise… That afternoon you’re on the trail to check out the waterfalls and the next thing you know you’re in the local clinic with a compound fracture. Just think: where would you rather get that fixed, in a small town clinic or back at your home hospital in your home network?

But won’t my medical insurance cover me anyway?

Actually, no, it won’t. According to a survey commissioned by the United States Travel Insurance Association, “traditional domestic health insurance plans typically limit coverage for out-of-country medical expenses to emergency-related costs; have high deductibles and co-pays for emergency treatment abroad and don’t cover out-of-country emergency medical transportation in cases of life threatening illness where medical evacuation may be required.”

Oh, and we wouldn’t recommend relying on Medicare, either. According to the survey, “the study revealed that 50% of Medicare recipients may not be covered abroad, and, when covered, benefits are normally limited to 80% of emergency treatment costs, with a $250 deductible.Those concerned about the possibility of a health emergency while overseas should consider travel medical or other types of travel insurance.”

Their words, not ours.

OK, I hear you. But what exactly will that membership pay for?

Quite a bit. If your claim is deemed valid (and that’s usually agreed upon between the attending physician and the member services personnel of the company you choose), the membership you paid for will pick up a pretty big tab, including everything from transportation to the nearest medical facility and repatriation. If you’re aSkyMedmember, depending on the extent of your injury you may be flown in a private medically equipped and staffed jet home after local stabilization. If you are fit to travel commercially, they’ll see to it that you’re accompanied by a medically trained professional. They’ll also fly your companion home, not to mention your minor children, among other things. Our SkyMed ULTIMATE program even includes pet return!

Can I choose the hospital where I’ll be treated?

Some—but not all—plans allow you to pick the hospital of your choice. With a SkyMed membership the choice is yours, and most of our members designate their local hospital within their insurance network. That way they are close to family, friends and, most importantly, their own doctor, which can save thousands of dollars in out-of-network costs. We encourage you toread the fine printwith whatever program you choose to go with to make sure you know exactly what you’re getting.

Sure, the probabilities of a critical injury or illness happening while you’re away from home are low, butmedical evacuations represent the highest possible loss while traveling.Basically you have to weigh if that’s a risk you’re willing to take.

So what’s a winning combination? Before you go, purchase travel medical insurance plus a medical evacuation membership—it always pays to travel with peace of mind.

For more details and special pricing on the gold standard of medical evacuation memberships for Associa members and employees, visit our website at www.skymed.com/associa.

About SkyMed International

SkyMed International, Inc., the flagship of the SkyMed Group of Companies, has been serving the traveling public since 1989. The company offers air ambulance membership services, medical air evacuations, emergency travel services, travel insurance and personal concierge services. For members that travel outside the SkyMed TAKES YOU HOME service area (including the USA, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Bermuda and the Bahamas), the company offers GLOBAL Emergency Travel Services. Together they have organized air evacuations literally all over the world under almost every kind of circumstance. In addition, the company has created the SkyMed Travel Club, a members’ only club that gives travelers access to exclusive pricing for vacations not available to the public. The SkyMed Group of Companies also includes SkyMed Canada, SkyMed Florida, SkyMed USVI and FARELINE, a full-service on-line and brick-and-mortar travel agency located in their Scottsdale office. For more information and special pricing for Associa members and employees, visit www.skymed.com/associa or call 800-475-9633.

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